An Iceberg
by MavsGirl22
Summary: In an act of pure reflex I gasp and jump back, my fingers trailing after the spot on my mouth he had kissed. “Aang… I… I never knew.” KataraxAang It all started with an iceberg...


**A/N: **Okay, so I've seen the trailer for the finale and I had the response I'm sure many of you did…. WTF? Lol I'm a little confused by the kiss scene they showed between Aang and Katara and I'm sure they threw in the Zuko and Katara hug just to make things even more WTFish. So, here's my take on Katara's reaction…

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_**A**__n__**I**__ceber__g_

It all started with an iceberg.

It's hard to believe, even now, that it should be so simple. Tomorrow at dusk, the sky will streak with a comet the world hasn't seen in a hundred years. The same comet that started this war – this war of hate, ignorance, and greed – all those years ago...

But when I look back over recent months I realize that this war may have been going on for a century or more, but for me… this whole ride started with an iceberg.

And tomorrow it will end in fire.

Whether by destruction or victory… only time will tell.

I know that as I am pacing our quiet room in this house, listening to the soft snoring of my comrades and trying to silence the stubborn fears brewing in my chest… I know that as I am doing this, he is preparing. It's been over an hour since he excused himself from his barely-eaten dinner and climbed the narrow staircase leading to the balcony overhead.

I've tried to convince myself that he needs time to meditate and prepare for what lies ahead. But my mind won't stop screaming at me that he shouldn't be alone! He shouldn't think for one second that he's in this by himself!

The strange thing is though, that if there is anyone who should feel alone in this world… it's Aang. He is, after all, the last of his kind, a "living relic" as some might say (and have said). But if there's anything I've learned during this crazy ride, it's that _things aren't always as they seem…_

I glance at the moon hanging just outside the window. It's strange… that we would be staying in the Fire Lord's summer home the night before we invade his palace. The minute I stepped foot in this place I couldn't subdue the uneasy chill bumps that covered my arms and legs. Zuko had insisted that his family hasn't been here since his mother's disappearance almost ten years ago, but I can't shake the feeling that sinister evil has once resided here.

The wind is cool and crisp as it comes through the open windows from the sea and I know that when we re-enter the palace gates tomorrow, I will miss its comfort. Everything aside, – including that awful play Sokka drug us to – it is nice here on Ember Island and if it were under any other circumstances, it might be fun. For a second, I close my eyes and pretend that we are all friends vacationing here for the weekend. It's pleasing to think of our small group as just regular teenagers, having fun at the beach, staying up late, and only caring about having fun. I smile as I picture us as anything but what we are: the last hope to save the world from certain destruction.

If anyone were to tell me a year ago that I would be here now, in this moment, I would have laughed. Even now it still sounds somewhat like a dream – or a nightmare, depending on how you look at it – and I can't help but wonder what comes next?

I realize that I am pacing again, and somehow my legs have begun carrying me towards the staircase that he disappeared from what seems like hours ago. For a fleeting moment I hesitate, telling myself that I should leave him to his meditations, but the thought is purged as soon as it is acknowledged. Something tells me that he needs a friend right now…

I climb the stairs with caution, careful to make my steps quiet and respectful as I enter the small balcony. As I suspected, he is silent, sitting with his legs crossed and a solemn expression is over his entire body. As much as I can tell, he is not aware of my presence. For several quiet minutes I watch.

I realize, as I have before, that he really isn't the same person I rescued from the iceberg.

He's aged in the year that I've known him. His disciplines have sharpened his features, replacing the youthful roundness that once filled his face. I can see lean muscle developing under his pale skin from months of training the elements, and even his arrows seem to fit him better, as if he grew into them somewhere in the past few weeks.

He breathes deeply through his nose and the lit candles in front of him respond to his breath. My childlike fascination with him – the same fascination that made me want to run away with him when we first met – is rekindled as I watch, holding my breath in anticipation for some unknown reason. It's then, in an instant, with the candle light softening his hardened expression and his shoulders heavy with tomorrow's burden, that it hits me…

Aang _is_ the Avatar.

I know… I've known for a year now. But until this moment, I've always kept the two separate. Aang: the fun loving, caring, devoted friend… and the Avatar: a powerful, disciplined, frightful leader…

It's strange – yet suddenly awe-inspiring – that the two can exist in the same person. How silly that I hadn't realized it sooner! Without meaning to, I smirk and let out a soft snort at the realization.

Aang responds to my unintentional disruption by letting out his breath slowly and steadily, the candles dimming as he opens his eyes. I open my mouth to apologize for interrupting, but I falter as he smiles at me, his grey eyes suddenly seeming much older than I remember.

I find myself returning his smile to cover my embarrassment – he _had _just caught me staring at him – as he starts to stand up, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to check on you. You've been gone for a while."

He shakes his head, "Don't apologize. I've been done meditating for a while now."

"Oh," I watch as he leans against the balcony, resting his forearms against the railing and taking a long look at the ocean beyond.

"Then what have you been doing up here?" I ask, but as soon as the words stumble out of my mouth, I realize how demanding and prying they sound. I laugh nervously, "I mean… I thought you would have come back downstairs after you were done."

He looks at me and smiles again and already I feel more comfortable. "I've just been thinking," he answers quietly.

"About what?" I ask at length. Given the circumstances, it's a pretty stupid question, and I realize that. But at this point I'm desperate to put some degree of normalcy back into the evening.

His smile fades slowly and he sighs, "A lot of things," he finally answers as he diverts his attention back over the railing.

"Anything you want to talk about?" I offer, as I have a hundred times before.

He pauses, as if he's thinking about what to say next, before he looks back at me again. "I guess… I guess I'm just scared."

Suddenly, he no longer looks like the almighty Avatar in the light I had seen him in only moments ago. His eyes soften and his thirteen year old insecurity is back as he sighs helplessly. "What if I'm not ready for this?"

I smile at him and in seconds I'm standing right beside him without any memory of coming to his side. "Aang, I know that you're scared. We all are…" I pause as I look over at his profile. "But you _are_ ready for this. It's what you've been training for."

He sighs again, "That's not what I mean, Katara."

I wait for him to continue, but when he doesn't I ask, "What is it Aang?" I turn to him fully, but he only responds by continuing to stare out over the beach below. I reach a hesitant hand to his shoulder and start rubbing little circles across the back of his shoulder blade, a gesture of comfort that I can remember my mother doing when I was a child. "You know you can tell me anything."

His response is surprising… he shakes his head eagerly and laughs. "But that's just it! I _can't _tell you everything! That's the whole problem!"

I pause mid-circle and furrow my brows, "What do you mean?"

He finally looks over at me, and his expression is one that I recognize… it's laced with determination and resolve – much like the look he gave me right before he flew off the first time to fight the Fire Lord. That was right after...

I'm startled from my memory as he speaks.

"Katara, I know that I'll defeat the Fire Lord tomorrow. It's my destiny to end this war and bring peace back to the four nations. I've already failed the world more times that I want to think about…" he pauses and his words are almost tangible... "I won't fail again."

My hand falls from his shoulder and I find myself stepping back from him unintentionally. I don't really know what to say, so I just nod and continue to listen – all the while fully aware that as he continues his monologue, his expression is slowly changing and his eyes are softening and loosing their decisive glare.

"Maybe if I didn't have to defeat the Fire Lord… Maybe that would make it easier. If things were different… if I were just Aang… I know I'd have more time then." He chuckles to himself and I wonder if it's possible that he's forgotten that I'm here. "But we never had enough time, did we?"

He sighs, and I can tell that he's terribly frustrated with something. I fear that I know what that something is…

"And I'm not just Aang… and I _do _have to defeat the Fire Lord tomorrow. And that changes everything."

He turns back towards the railing and for several long silent moments he stares out over the beach, his mind obviously hard at work…

Finally, after I decide that I can take the silence no longer, I clear my throat, "I don't understand. What exactly changes?" I know that my words are hesitant and I'm sure he can hear the shaky uncertainty in my voice, but as he finally looks back over at me, whatever thoughts are crossing his mind are shrouded by a blank expression.

"Katara…" he pauses and I can see that he's struggling. He breathes a deep breath of reassurance before continuing, "I mastered the Avatar State."

"Aang that's great!" I'm too busy smiling and laughing and throwing my arms around his neck to pull him into a hug to realize that this wonderful news – this fantastic and possible lifesaving news! – shouldn't cause anyone this much trouble or confusion… "That's so great! I knew you could do it!"

Suddenly I feel his hands at my waist and he's pushing me, pulling out of my embrace and shaking his head like he's said or done something wrong. "No… no, it's not great. It's not great at all."

"What do you mean?" I ask, fully aware that the light tone of my voice doesn't match the confusion I can feel overcoming my face.

"Katara, in order to master the Avatar State…" he releases a forced breath as if he is compelling himself to say what's coming next. "I had to give something up."

Again, he has left me unknowing of what to say. I try my best to convey my empathy and confusion without words as he continues.

"Something very close to me… Something that… I love."

My mind is spinning with its own assumptions, and I feel that I have to grasp the railing for support. "Aang… I…" my voice is quiet and I'm not sure it's even my own as he acts as if he didn't hear it.

"Katara… In order to master the Avatar State I had to let go of all my earthly attachments…" he pauses to draw a deep breath, his face nothing more than a blank canvas. "I had to let go… of you."

"Earthly attachment?" My grip on the railing tightens and suddenly I feel like the world is falling out from under me. I close my eyes and swallow, trying my best to calm to quivering feeling in my stomach. "I… I don't understand," I manage to say as I open my eyes once more.

"The guru, at the Eastern Air Temple, told me that I had to unlock all seven chakras if I wanted to master the Avatar State. But when he told me that I would have to let go of you… I couldn't do it."

His words seem so heartfelt, but his eyes… they are different.

"I tried… I really tried, but then I saw you in trouble at Ba Sing Se. I never unlocked the seventh chakra…" He glances at me and then off to my right to avoid eye contact, "…until now…"

"But… why me?" I ask with more hesitance than I intend.

He continues to avoid looking at me, "You're what attaches me to this world. My love for you was keeping me from all the cosmic energy in the universe."

"Cosmic energy? Love?" My head is spinning as waves of realization start crashing all around me. I fear if I don't sit down soon, I might faint or be sick.

But my feelings are confusing me, shouldn't I be happy? I was so worried that Aang was in love me… I was so afraid that he wouldn't be able to defeat the Fire Lord in time because of me… I was so scared that I was being selfish by wanting to keep him safe, away from this war and his 'duties'…

But he's mastered the Avatar State! He's given up on loving me! Isn't this for the best?

Despite all rationality, I can't deny the dark feeling that has overcome my chest. Is this what it feels like to have a broken heart? But why should I be broken-hearted? Why do I feel like my world is falling in around me? Could it be that, all this time… I was in love with Aang? Is it possible that I'm in love with the Avatar?

I have to know… I have to know if this feeling is real… I open my mouth and the next words fall off my tongue hastily and without thinking them through.

"Kiss me."

It's obvious that he is taken off guard by my request – or perhaps, better termed, demand – and his mouth drops slightly agape as he gawks at me wide-eyed. I can only imagine that he's sure he heard me wrong. "What?"

I look at him solemnly, though not really looking at him as my eyes divert themselves more to his hands than his face. "I want to know… if it's real." I answer at length, though I'm still not sure of what I am saying or implying. "I have to know if what I feel for you… what I'm feeling right now… is real."

He looks at me with questioning, his voice filled with objection. "Katara…"

I finally look up to meet his eyes and something wonderful, yet painful at the same time, flutters to live somewhere in my chest. Once again I swallow this strange feeling, "Please Aang… Kiss me."

He levels a long hard look at me, and I can only assume that his mind is running wild with the application I've laid out before him. I watch him in silence, unable to say or do anything as my heart continues its awkward rampage in my chest. Finally he breathes deeply, as if he's made a decision – though his face remains rather unreadable at this point.

He closes his eyes and before I am ready for it, his lips are pressed against mine. My eyes stay wide during the act and every muscle tenses from my scalp to my toes as a jolt of something unfamiliar to me runs its course through my body. In an act of pure reflex I gasp and jump back, my fingers trailing after the spot on my mouth he had kissed.

He doesn't look at me, but all I can do is stare at him shamelessly, unable to put into words the feeling that just reverberated through my spine. My fingers linger at my lips that are still parted slightly. "Aang… I… I never knew." My voice is lost around me, and suddenly I'm not even sure I'm the one speaking. It all seems like a dream.

"I've tried telling you so many times." He swallows hard, and then finally looks me in the eyes. I suddenly feel like a child in his piercing gaze as all the past lives before him seem to be staring at me through those familiar – yet suddenly not so comforting – grey eyes of his. "I kissed you… that day on the sub." He pauses and I have to divert my eyes back to his hands to calm to sudden chills that have erupted over my skin. "Don't you remember?"

My stomach remains in knots and suddenly my mouth feels dry, as if all the water around me couldn't satisfy my thirst. Silence envelopes our tiny balcony as I contemplate this new unknown feeling that has overtaken every cell in my body. This feeling that makes me want to sing and cry at the same time. "It's not that Aang," I finally answer.

"Then what?" He's getting flustered with me, and somewhere in the still conscious part of my mind I can understand that.

"It's… it's…." How am I supposed to put this feeling – this bizarre, wonderful, terrifying feeling – into words?! Suddenly I grab his hand and pull it to my chest so that his fingertips rest lightly against my mother's necklace and his palm is flat against my breastbone. He's startled by my sudden action, but I remain calm as I look once again into those entrancing eyes of his. "It's this!"

He throws me another questioning look before he feels it…

My heart.

His face softens from the worry lines as I hold his hand tight against my chest. "I don't understand it either, Aang. But suddenly, it feels too big for my chest. I feel like any second I might faint, or laugh, or cry, or who knows what else!"

He looks up at me, and for the first time since I came onto this balcony with him… he smiles.

"I think I understand…" he says quietly, his eyes staring at his hand and then back up to my eyes. "I finally understand what the guru meant."

I open my mouth to ask him what he means, but he beats me to the punch as he smiles again, bigger this time.

"I couldn't give you up because I never had you." He pauses as his eyes light up, reminding me of the Aang I've always known. "Don't you see, Katara? Love isn't something you own!"

Suddenly, he grabs my hand with his free one, and imitating my actions only minutes ago, pulls it to his chest. I'm confused, at best, but then, as he's pressing my palm into his chest and looking at me hopefully with those big grey eyes… I feel it.

His heart.

"Love is something you share."

His grinning again, and his smile is becoming contagious. I feel my mouth curving into a smile that I know must be covering my entire face. How silly we must look right now. With our hands pressed to each others' breastbones, grinning like ridiculous school girls.

Despite the absurdity, I find myself getting lost in this surreal moment. The heat of his hand on my skin, the warmth in his smile, and the purity in his eyes… Things I'd never noticed about Aang before suddenly seem so obvious. Like how his mouth is the perfect shape, or how the blue in his arrows reminds me of the sky, or how his eyes are the same color as storm clouds.

A surge of emotion wells up inside of me and I giggle a little as it courses around in my veins. I welcome the strange intoxicating feeling this time, no longer confused or frightful of its presence.

I realize that as I am drowning in this fascinating feeling, I am suddenly being drawn to him. His face is only a breath away from mine now and his eyes have slipped closed somewhere in the last few seconds. I smile as I feel his heart racing beneath my palm, and he breathes a soft chuckle as I'm sure he feels mine.

Just before our lips meet for the second time that night he whispers, "I love you, Katara."

I answer him by pressing my mouth against his as his heart beats wildly beneath my fingers. This kiss isn't like the ones we've shared before. It's new and exciting and my head begins to spin as I feel like Aang has somehow pulled the ground from beneath my feet. His taste is electrifying and I immediately associate it with how the air smells after a cool rain shower.

I smile against his lips and realize that somehow my hands have woven around his neck without me telling them to. His arms are now pressing against my waist as we hold each other in a way I'd never dreamed of.

When I feel my lungs begin to burn with the need for air, I reluctantly dip my head, releasing my lips from his as we both pant softly for what seems like hours. After I feel like the world is no longer spinning and my heart has returned to a relatively normal pace, I allow myself to pull away from him slightly so that I can see his face.

His cheeks are flushed, as I'm sure mine are, and his eyes are wild with an emotion I've never seen in them before. I smile at him, and he returns the action. "Aang, I can't believe I never knew…"

His head tilts ever so slightly, "Knew what?"

I bring my lips back for another kiss, but pause just as they brush over his and I whisper, "…that I love you."

He smiles as the tattoo on his forehead glows to life. "That's all I needed to hear," he whispers and closes the small amount of space that still separates us.

Tomorrow Aang will fight the Fire Lord, he will win, the war will end, and the comet will come… And I will be beside him. My Aang. My Avatar. He's finally mastered the Avatar State, and I know that I have played a big role in that. But for now, his lips are pressed against mine and his hands are in my hair and he's making my heart beat in a way I've never felt before and we will always share this.

And I can't help but think…

It all started with an iceberg.


End file.
